Ref.Refugees: Examined the referrals of the PtD - They will be accepted by AKEL

AKEL will accept the impeachments of the President of the Republic concerning the Refugee Committee, as stated by the Chairman of the Committee, AKEL Member of Parliament, Nikos Kettiros. In relation to the delay in processing care applications, he said that currently 1.407 applications are pending and that 688 would have already been processed had it not been for the backlog that was created.

The Refugee Committee has examined the impeachment of the President of the Republic, Nikos Anastasiadis, and in particular the impeachment of the Immovable Property (Possession, Registration and Valuation) (Amendment) Law of 2022 as well as the impeachment of Turkish Cypriot Properties (Management and Other Matters) (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Act of 2022.

The Director General of the Ministry of the Interior, Kostas A. Konstantinou, representatives of the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Service and the Displaced Persons Care and Rehabilitation Service (YMAPE) of the Ministry of the Interior and the Legal Service of the Republic also participated in the Committee session.

The Chairman of the Refugee Committee, AKEL Member of Parliament, Nikos Kettiros, stated after the end of the Committee, among other things, that the Refugee Committee discussed the two bills concerning the structure of the Ministry of the Interior and the abolition of the positions of the Director of the Turkish Cypriot Assets Service and of the Director of the Care Service at the Ministry of the Interior and the creation of seven new positions, which will be interchangeable and for which the Minister of the Interior will define duties.

Mr. Kettiros noted that it has been confirmed today that all the responsibility for the delay in the examination of the applications, due to the involvement that arose with the passing of the budget, belongs to the Ministry of the Interior because even today there was a discussion and the text was being changed after suggestions from the officials of the Parliament, but also from the legal service itself.

"I must say that we tried very hard because despite the fact that we expressed very strong reservations last month about passing this particular change of structure, not for reasons of substance, but for reasons of procedure because we anticipated that there would be this involvement in the examination of applications of care. There are currently 1407 applications pending and 688 would have already been processed but for this involvement. All these people are on hold because of the sketchy preparation made by the Ministry of Interior," he said.

In addition, the President of the Committee for Refugees, stated that so far there was no indication that the bills will be in the Plenary Assembly in the afternoon. "I have already contacted the President of the Parliament and an arrangement has been made, so that at the end of January when the Plenary Session of the Parliament meets again to examine the twelfths for the budgets of semi-state organizations, the specific bills will be on the agenda of the Plenary Session and be voted on. If any alternative is found by the afternoon, we will try it", said Mr. Kettiros.

Mr. Kettiros added that the referrals of the President of the Republic concerning the houses that had been erected in self-housing settlements on Turkish Cypriot land and not in government settlements were also examined.

He noted that a comprehensive bill has been submitted to the Plenary session and in order to avoid issues of impeachment, non-acceptance, or going to the Supreme Court and causing more problems in the world, today we will "accept the impeachment as AKEL and we will go with the bill when it opens the Parliament in order to deal comprehensively with the issues concerning the world".

He added that it has been envisaged that if the new government does not adopt the bill or delays in re-introducing it, it will be adopted by the Refugees Committee, as a bill, as it is, so that the debate can proceed and the issue can be settled.

It is noted that this morning, in addition to the Refugees Committee, they examined a series of legislations, which were brought up by the President of the Republic and the Law, Education and Environment Committees of the Parliament, while at 15:00 in the afternoon the Plenary of the body will convene.

Source: KYPE